Spontaneous vortex state in a superconductor/ferromagnet nanocomposite

TL;DR

This study provides experimental evidence of a spontaneous vortex state in a superconductor/ferromagnet nanocomposite, demonstrating coexistence with the Meissner state and highlighting the effects of fractal disorder and Josephson currents.

Contribution

First direct bulk magnetic measurement demonstration of spontaneous vortices in a superconductor/ferromagnet nanocomposite, confirming theoretical predictions.

Findings

Spontaneous vortices observed in the nanocomposite with remanent magnetization.

Coexistence of spontaneous vortices and Meissner state confirmed.

Fractal disorder influences vortex nucleation and behavior.

Abstract

The mechanism of the interplay between superconductivity and magnetism is one of the intriguing and challenging problems in physics. Theory has predicted that the ferromagnetic order can coexist with the superconducting order in the form of a spontaneous vortex phase in which magnetic vortices nucleate in the absence of an external field. However, there has been no rigorous demonstration of spontaneous vortices by bulk magnetic measurements. Here we show the results of experimental observations of spontaneous vortices using a superconductor/ferromagnet fractal nanocomposite, in which superconducting MgB2 and ferromagnetic nanograins are dispersedly embedded in the normal matrix to realize the remote electromagnetic interaction and also to induce a long-range Josephson coupling. We found from bulk magnetization measurements that the sample with nonzero remanent magnetization exhibits the magnetic behaviors which are fully consistent with a spontaneous vortex scenario predicted theoretically for magnetic inclusions in a superconducting material. The resulting spontaneous vortex state is in equilibrium and coexists surprisingly with a Meissner state (complete shielding of an external magnetic field). The present observation not only reveals the evolution process of the spontaneous vortices in superconductor/ferromagnet hybrids, but it also sheds light on the role of the fractal disorder and structural heterogeneity on the vortex nucleation under the influence of Josephson superconducting currents.